Hard Candy
by C M Forde
Summary: Hard Candy is an original story set in the Cowboy Bebop universe. Sal Mugen and Zoe Clark are a couple of bounty hunters just doing their job, then they stumble across something that could mean dire consequences for humanity itself. Chapter Three is up
1. World of Two

**Disclaimer:**** Cowboy Bebop isn't mine.  Hard Candy is mine.  The crew of The Bebop aren't mine.  The Crew of The Rio are mine.  Faye Valentine isn't mine.  We broke up.******

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**Hard Candy:**

**World of Two**

By

C M Forde

"Amigos!" It always started like that, that same annoying voice with that same annoying word, Sal had never really appreciated the term 'Cowboy', and especially not when it pertained to her.  Zoe was working on something again, it seemed like _Rio was always breaking down for some reason or another, and as yet Sal hadn't figured out why, and neither had Zoe, it must just be because the ship was getting old.  She watched the rowdy couple on Big Shots talk on and on about this bounty or the other, but Sal wasn't too interested.  Like the lady without a shirt said, there were three hundred thousand other bounty hunters in the system, what were the chances of Sal actually beating one of them to the punch?  When the last bounty came on though, Sal felt a twitch in the back of her neck, a subtle feeling that this bounty was an important one._

            "Zoe, where are we?" Sal's voice rung out amongst the aging pipe and steel that was the _Rio, her only possession of any kind of value.  The younger woman came around the corner, hands on her hips above a pair of loose khakis and a red jacket that hung ill fitting across her shoulders.  Zoe pulled her cap up slightly, her face and hands smudged with grease and oil._

            "Coming up on Ganymede in an hour or so, why?"  Sal couldn't quite name the feeling she had, it was little more than a hunch really, but it was something that she never ignored.  The woman blew a bit of auburn hair away from her gentle brown eyes and pulled herself out of her old rotting recliner and smiled, "Just what I wanted to hear, there's a guy down there somewhere that makes me itch."

            Zoe's ragged golden brown hair stuck out from all points under her cap as she spoke, rubbing her nose once to accidentally leave a trail of grease across the bridge.  "How much is he worth?"

            "Fifty Thousand."  Not much really, but enough to get _Rio in working order again.  Sal fished around in the front pocket of a pair of jeans and came up without anything but a handful of lint.  With a frown she looked up at Zoe, "Have you seen the key to the weapons locker?"_

            Zoe sighed and pointed at an old beat up safe that had been shoved into the corner.  The door swung lazily open, a key still in the lock, "It's been that way for a week Sal, ever since you cleaned your gun."

            "Well why didn't you do something about it?"  She said as she made her way over to the safe.  Four handguns sat inside of it, strewn about in a disarrayed fashion.  Sal shoved Zoe's .45 out of the way and pulled out a very large .357 revolver.  With a smug grin she grabbed a box of ammo and kicked the door closed.

            Zoe sighed, "Because I'm not the one who made up the rule that the weapons should be locked up."  As Sal started loading her gun, Zoe went back to go fix whatever she had been fixing earlier.  Within a few minutes Sal's revolver was loaded, along with three extra speed loaders.  Trying to reload a revolver manually in a firefight has a slight tendency to get a person shot.  The girl grabbed a belt holster off a hook on the wall and fastened it loosely around her waist before slipping the massive gun into it and heading towards the bridge.  She passed Zoe on her way there, the younger woman mumbling something about a busted valve cap as she buried her head into a mass of pipe.

            The _Rio's bridge was about as disheveled as the rest of the ship, where the cockpit chair should have been was a very uncomfortable looking stool, balanced precariously on three and a half legs and a stack of old newspapers.  Sal looked around and smiled, feeling pretty good about this bounty.  Something important was going to come of it, she was sure._


	2. Starry Eyed Girl

Disclaimer: Same as last time. If I don't own it, it's not mine.

  
  
  
  


Hard Candy:

Starry Eyed Girl

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"It all started with a girl, but isn't that how these things always start? With a girl? I'd love to say that everything was going fine before she showed up, but I'm not much of a liar, never have been. No, things were pretty much going to hell in a hand basket by the time she made her appearance. Strangely, she made things better for a while, but not too long. I heard this story about some bounty hunter with a vendetta against an old partner of his, guy's name was Spike or Butch or something like that. You know, one of those names that only come from little white trash families. Anyway, this guy and his partner go get into some fight and kill each other for some weird reason or another. I guess this is kinda like that, only different. It's hard to explain really, you had to be there to really understand. But if you want I'll give it a shot. Yeah, well anyway, like I said, it all started with a girl."

  
  


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The bullet tore past Sal's ear and she ducked back behind cover, letting the massive steel pipe serve as a shield while she reloaded. They had managed to find the bounty pretty easily, it was catching him that was proving to be the daunting task. After an hour long chase they had come into this factory, empty during the middle of the night luckily, Sal couldn't afford to let the guy have any hostages. He had managed to lose them in the maze of pipes and machinery that clunked mindlessly onward, producing whatever the hell this place was supposed to produce anyway. Zoe had suggested they split up a while ago, and Sal hoped that her partner was still alive, apparently the guy had some friends helping him, though where they had come from was still a mystery. Sal pulled the speed loader from the cylinder and slammed it back into place, pulling the hammer of her gun back. With a quick twist she rolled out from behind cover on one shoulder and fired off a pair of rounds towards the gunman. He jerked once, one of the heavy magnum bullets had slammed into his chest, and he fell backwards onto the floor, his gun firing off his death call. Sal just smiled, she wasn't that good of a shot and that had been more luck than anything else.

That's when the machine gun opened up on her. She never did find out where the hell the guy was, she just got up and started sprinting, bullets whizzing by her head and ricocheting off of the pipe around her. While she screamed one of the shots hit something that was probably marked 'inflammable', and the resulting explosion tossed her headlong into a piece of machinery with a control panel on it. Her back slammed into it first, and she had the presence of mind to notice that she was upside down before Sal rebounded off of it and landed on her head with a painful thud. The bullets had stopped, apparently the explosion had knocked her behind cover or the guy was reloading, either way it was a damn good thing he wasn't shooting anymore because she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to move for a while. A series of gunshots rung out from somewhere, the way that sound rebounded around in this factory it was hard to tell from where, and Sal managed a weak smirk, apparently Zoe was still alive and kicking.

Sal pulled herself up onto all fours and winced as pain shot into her brain like a hot knife and the world seemed to spin around her. She swallowed down some bile that was threatening to explode from her mouth, and groaned, so far this was turning into a really bad day. She shook her head, winced in pain again, and decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to do that anymore. Her gun was gone, she had dropped it during her brief flight, and being without a weapon in a gunfight is usually a pretty bad idea. A glint of shining steel caught her attention, and she spotted her revolver laying about ten feet away, the explosion had done no more to it than it had to her apparently. Sal crawled over and laid her hand on the grip, the feel of its weight and texture always seemed to reassure her when she felt like panicking. "Look what I caught..."

Before she could move, Sal felt the cold hard pressure of a gun pressed into the side of her head. The owner of the weapon sent a kick into her ribs that rolled her over onto her stomach and almost brought the bile up again. She looked up at the man holding her captive and almost groaned, it was the bounty. Silently, she promised that if she lived through this she would never ever pay attention to that itch anymore. The man just grinned and raised his pistol a little higher, Sal could see the rifling of the pistol's barrel and almost imagined she could see the bullet all the way down its length. "Adios cowboy." The shot came, but Sal was fine. Blood tore away from the man's chest and splashed across her face, but at the moment she didn't care, she too stunned to move. Two more shots brought the man down onto of her and this time Sal did puke, though it wasn't very effective with the dead man's bleeding chest blocking her mouth. She rolled the man off of her and vomited again, this time with much more success, then she looked up to where she expected to find Zoe standing with her gun drawn. She wasn't there, there was someone there, but it wasn't Zoe.

The woman had hair the color of blood soaked linen, and eyes like a pair of shimmering sapphires, so blue that it was almost unreal. To say she was beautiful was an understatement, it would be like calling Olympus Mons a hill. Sal swallowed as the woman kept her gun raised, pointed at Sal's head with a deadly promise of steaming hot steel mixing with gooey brain matter. Of course, the bounty hunter didn't move, she wasn't a real fan of getting shot in the head. The beautiful woman didn't seem to mind though, she just smiled the smile of a lion sneaking up on a wounded gazelle. Sal swallowed once and then felt her revolver's weight in her hand, she was still holding it. The red head fired first, but Sal moved as she did so, and the bullet caught her in the shoulder instead of the head. With a scream of pain and desperation, Sal brought her gun up and fired as well, hitting the woman in the leg and knocking her off of her feet. In the process, the woman dropped her gun. Sal clenched her jaw in pain, blood flowing out of her shoulder wound quite profusely and was about to fire again when she heard Zoe's voice calling from overhead. "Sal! Hold on I'll be right there!" She looked up to see her partner standing on a catwalk about twenty feet above her, rushing towards a stairway that would lead her down. It proved to be an unfortunate distraction. By the time Sal looked back, the woman had gone, the only trace that she had been there a blood trail leading towards the exit, and four spent nine millimeter shell casings laying on the ground.


	3. The Joker

Disclaimer: After that incident involving the crazed badgers I'm not really allowed to own much of anything.

  
  
  
  


Hard Candy:

The Joker

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"You want me to talk about her? Well hell, there's not really much to say. She sure as hell didn't know how to keep her mouth shut, that's for sure. She was really good at just opening up and pissing off everyone in the vicinity you know? No, I guess you wouldn't, you've never met her. Well yeah, I have met someone kind of like her before, but that Faye at least had class. No, this girl was full scale bitch and a half. You ever heard the term redneck? Well yeah, I know it's an old term, but some people still use it, at least back on Earth they do. Anyway, that's what she was, one hundred percent trailer trash. But still, you can't help but respect her. Once, I saw a bullet clip her earring and she didn't even blink. She may talk a lot of trash, but she can back it up better than just about anybody I've ever met, a lot better than I can anyway."

  
  


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"Alright listen up Sarah, nobody likes the whole 'Lookit me I'm a dyke' style so get over yourself. Waitress, get me a Guiness would ya? Thanks."

"My name is Sal, not Sarah, and who the hell are you?" Zoe and Sal had been sitting in a bar discussing how to go about catching their newest bounty when this woman had just walked up to them and sat down next to Zoe. The woman had ratty black hair hanging about her shoulders and was dressed like a street bum. White shirt, black slacks, combat boots and a trench coat that looked like it might have once been black, but was now bleached white from the waist down and faded up into the original black. So far the conversation had gone wildly astray and was about to turn violent. Unfortunately, it'd be one on one, Zoe seemed to be enjoying this woman's company, she hadn't stopped laughing since she showed up.

"Sal, yeah. I knew she was a carpet licker." She patted Zoe on the leg and looked at Sal again, "So you her love slave or something?" Zoe cracked up again and Sal started to reach for her gun. The result wasn't too pretty, this other woman already had her gun out, laid casually on the table. "Yeah, please don't. Don't want to have to kill anybody I haven't hardly met yet. Besides, you're not allowed to shoot someone if you don't know their name, that's my philosophy. Leslie Bohnam if you were wondering, you can call me Les, everybody does. Not Les like you and short stack over here, Les like short for Leslie, not that I really care what you two do in the dead of the night. Your whips, chains and battery operated devices are your own business." Just then the waitress came by and put Les's drink on the table. She took it up, raised it like a toast and brought it to her lips. After five swallows that actually quite impressed Sal, the pint was finished and the woman grinned, "You're paying for this right?" By now Zoe was slamming her fist on the table and had turned a bright red, it looked.

Sal just frowned, "Listen up you psycho bitch, you've got about five seconds to get up and leave before you're picking your brains up off of the floor."

Les arched an eyebrow and put her gun back up, but she didn't make a move to leave. "So what are you guys? Cowboys am I right?"

For the first time since the woman showed up, Zoe composed herself enough to speak. In between bouts of laughter she managed, "Sal doesn't like being called a cowboy. She prefers Bounty Hunter."

Les laughed, "Oh please. Don't get all offended." She kicked her feet up onto the table and came about a half inch from knocking over Sal's drink with her untied combat boots. "You are what you are, just deal with it. Like I said, get over yourself."

Sal started to say something but froze, her finger in mid point; she had nothing to say. "Uhh... Hey you know you're really annoying."

Les wrapped an arm around Zoe's shoulders, "She seems to like me. Are you afraid I'm moving in on your woman? Cause if she likes me better I can't help it, she's just going to leave you and follow me around in a hopeless quest to swoon me. Sure, I might give her a peep show every now and then to keep her interested, but girls aren't my style."

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!!!" Sal was on her feet before she realized what was happening. Les and Zoe just looked at her like they were about to explode in laughter, unfortunately so was everyone else in the bar. She sat back down and crossed her arms under her breasts, "I hate you..."

Les shrugged, "We just met, everybody hates me at first. I've just got to grow on you like mold. Now, just to ease your mind about my intentions towards your girlfriend I'll help you."

"Help me what?"

"If you're a cowboy then that means that you're after Gomez am I right?"

Sal frowned and slunk down in her chair, Zoe just looked at Les, "Maybe..."

Les's grin expanded, "Well I've got some very important information for you. But it'll cost ya."

"How much?"

She shook her head, "No, money's not my priority. You see I'm getting kinda bored around here, if you guys are cowboys then that means you've got a ship. All I want is a ride off this rock, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Sal looked at Zoe, who nodded. Hell, it's just a ride somewhere, and they can afford it with the bounty this Gomez guy's going to be worth. While the woman may be annoying, the Rio's well stocked with duct tape. "Fine. Now talk."

Les leaned forward conspiratorially and looked around with slate grey eyes at the rest of the patrons. Everyone was looking at the trio at the table, but she didn't seem to care. "Rumor has it, he's sitting right there." She pointed towards the bar, where a passed out Gomez was lying face first in a puddle of spilled whiskey and snoring happily.

Sal frowned, "You cheating bitch..."

Les sat back and smiled, "I do my best."


End file.
